Measurement & Instrumentation

Feedback: The Good, The Bad, and The Irrelevant

As an in-house designer who works alone, I require constant feedback. It’s the only way to know if I am on the right track. Recently, I had an epiphany: I have ignored my best design resource available, my fellow designer. I could have kicked myself for the oversight. I was working on a poster that was just not fitting together well. I ignored my first instinct to send it to a friend, and instead sent it to a fellow designer in a different department. Her insightful comments and suggestions helped me to see the holes in my design and the fixes we discussed made the poster better.

Feedback is only as good as the reviewer. If your reviewer doesn’t know your intended audience or have much experience in your subject, their feedback (while interesting) is not as meaningful as another, more appropriate, reviewer. Take care in gathering feedback. Your work will get better if the feedback gathered is from someone who understands/is part of the audience you wish to engage. As Seth Godin says: “Shun the non-believers.”